Webmail

A full-fledged modern webmail application, based on Roundcube. One can not only access the Science mail here, but also the RU mail, by picking from the drop-down menu mail.ru.nl instead of science.ru.nl.

Advantages of Roundcube w.r.t. the RU Outlook Web Access are that you can set multiple sender addresses (via Settings->Identities) and that the Science LDAP addressbook is available, which contains all Science staff and students. The RU Exchange AD address book contains also namesakes from other parts of the university. Furthermore, Roundcube has a more powerful and modern interface independent of the browser used. You can also leave out the extra RU\ before the U- or S-number when logging in. A disadvantage w.r.t. the standard RU Outlook Web Access might be that Roundcube does not have calendar support, it is only an IMAP mailclient.

Every mail message is processed at acceptance by a simple, but effective antivirus- and antispam- filter.

Mailbox folder sharing between users is possible. This can easily be configured in Roundcube webmail via the Gear-icon in the bottom left corner, "Manage Folders" and double clicking on a mail folder, or with an email client like Kmail. The user that is allowed to use a folder, usually needs to subscribe to the folder. When one user reads a message, it is not automatically marked as read for all users, as happens in Exchange.

It is also possible to share tags for mail, even those you've made up yourself, with other users.

With Sieve mail messages can be filtered on delivery at the mail storage server. These filter settings can be managed in Roundcube webmail with Settings -> Filters.

Initial quota: 5 GB, can be enlarged on request to 10 GB or more if needed. Freeing storage can be done easily by removing the largest attachments from the "Sent" folder.

Automatic configuration

The settings for many mail clients can be retrieved automatically, we use the software of automx for this. For clients that use the Microsoft (Outlook) standard, you only have to fill in your primary email address (when in doubt, see the Do-It-Yourself site). N.B.: this primary email address is in general something like For clients that use the Mozilla (Thunderbird) standard, you also have to fill in your own name. For the Apple standard (iOS, Mac OS X) you must use the Safari browser to visit the C&CZ autodiscover website, fill in the form and after that accept the mobileconfig that is offered. To remove the mail account, you have to go to Settings -> General -> Profile in that case. These automatic settings not only work for the C&CZ domains @science.ru.nl, @astro.ru.nl, @cs.ru.nl, @hef.ru.nl, @math.ru.nl, @nmr.ru.nl, @student.science.ru.nl, @theochem.ru.nl, but also for the RU Exchange2010 domain @fnwi.ru.nl. This service can only be used from RU campus, so from outside start Vpn first.

Manual configuration

See above for automatic configuration.

Default manual configuration choices for a mail client are:

To read mail the preferred protocol is IMAP. The POP protocol can still be used, but not all messages will be found.

Using IMAP encryption via SSL or TLS is mandatory! For POP one has to use SSL encryption!

The server for reading email is the post.science.ru.nl. You will need your FNWI loginname and password.

The server for sending emails is the smtp.science.ru.nl. You do not need a loginname or password if used from the Huygens building. Outside the Huygens building you will need your loginname and password and encryption via TLS is mandatory. More info can be read at Authenticated SMTP.

For sending email one can often choose a port number. Choose port 587 (instead of poort 25), and messages will not be filtered! Sending mail will be faster, but also it will be possible to attach .zip or .exe files. Authentication is mandatory now!

The LDAP addressbook server is ldap.science.ru.nl with DN: o=addressbook.

Mailing lists

There are simple lists of mail addresses possible, which can be requested through Postmaster and after that maintained by the owners themselves through The Do-It-Yourself website, but there are also highly configurable and moderatable
mailman mailing lists, e.g. the list of FNWI-employees or the list of FNWI-students. Usually one can add oneself to or remove oneself from such a mailman mailing list. Every mailman mailing list has a moderator, who can approve or reject messages to the mailman mailing list. For mailman list admins: To filter spam one can choose in the "Privacy options..." under "Spam filters" as "Spam filter regexp:"

X-Spam-Score:.*\*\*\*\*\*

and check the radio button "Discard" and hit "Submit Your Changes" on the bottom of the web page.

Moreover it is advisable to accept only messages from members (moderated or unmoderated) and a specified list of addresses to accept and discard all other messages.This makes life for the moderator a lot easier. You can achieve this by clicking on
"Privacy Options ..." subsequently click on "Sender filters" and then for
"Action to take for postings from non-members for which no explicit action is defined." choose "Discard" (Negeren in dutch interface)
and a bit further down "Should messages from non-members, which are automatically discarded, be forwarded to the list moderator?" choose "No"
and finally click on "Submit Your Changes".

Central RU Exchange mail at ru.nl

Every new RU employee normally gets a central RU @ru.nl mail address of the form , each new student has one of the form , where the student him/herself may change the "Something". If you do not want to read the mail on that server, you can forward incoming mail by logging on to mail.ru.nl with the mail address or U/s number preceded by "RU\" and the corresponding RU password. Then, at the gear icon in the upper right corner (Settings), click "Options", followed by "Organize email", and then hit the '+" (Create a rule for arriving messages), and choose "redirect all incoming" to another mail address. NB: mail that has the forwarding address as the sender address is *never* forwarded by Exchange in order to prevent mail loops.